Address to the First Graduating Class of Rutgers Female College

by Henry M. Pierce

If, then, it is best for the young man that by a liberal education, his memory should be strengthened, his reasoning powers disciplined, his judgment matured, his mind enlarged—why is it not best for the young woman also? This is a question for those who differ with us to answer. It is a question that none would seriously ask, were it not that the minds of many are unconsciously swayed by a belief in the essential inferiority of woman. It can only arise from this pernicious error, or from some doubt as to the real advantage of a liberal education;—an error and a doubt, both of which should be remanded to the Dark Ages.

Generally, then, we would say, that there is no reason why woman should be debarred from any part of the studies common to all liberally educated men.

I say, common to all liberally educated men. I do not wish you to infer that I consider the course of instruction in our colleges for young men in every particular the wisest and the best. On the contrary, early in my college life I thought, and the years of maturer life have strengthened the idea, that in the curriculum of colleges, too little importance attaches to the science of nature, and to the study of the human soul,—not the study of the abstract metaphysics which the schoolmen bequeathed to us, but of man as he is,—and too little importance attaches to the study of the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures,—the fountain whence the ever-enlarging river of our civilization flows. Neither did I then think, nor do I now think, that a familiarity with the classics alone, is either a sufficient, or altogether the best, preparation for life in our own day—for a life in which shall pulsate all the great emotions of our time,—for a life in complete sympathy with nature, with man, and with God.

In the United States, the college course for young men was modeled after that of the European Universities, which were founded when the Greek and the Latin were the only fully developed tongues; when the languages of modern Europe were in a formative process; when works on science, philosophy, medicine, jurisprudence, and theology, and all legal documents, state papers, and treaties, were done in Latin; when all discussions and correspondence were carried on in Latin; and when modern science yet waited for the thoughts of Bacon, the intuitions of Kepler, and the discoveries of Galileo.

Now, on the other hand, the Italian, French, German, and other languages, have been brought to a high state of perfection, and almost every work on art, science, literature, or philosophy, is composed in the author's vernacular. Yet our colleges, with unfortunate fidelity, have hitherto adhered much too closely to the course of study marked out by their ancient models.

But nothing should gratify the friends of education more than the changes that are now beginning to take place, not only in our own institutions of learning, but even in the English Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The Novum Organum of Bacon has triumphed, and is leading us from the study of a dead Past to the study of living and eternal truth. The establishment of scientific departments and schools of mines, in connection with some of our noble and time-honored colleges and universities, is a virtual acknowledgment that not the ancient classics, but the modern classics, should rank first in the studies of youth; not the classics of the Greeks and Romans, but the classics of Nature.

I would not be misunderstood in this matter. The grand classics are grand indeed! Greece and Rome were grand; but their grandeur grew out of high aspirations, tending to a grand life. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, they looked not backward, they went right straight on, and thus became truly great.

We, too, have a greatness, as a nation, to attain: and we must attain it, if at all, in the same way. We need not fear that the truth developed by different nations, will or can be lost. Truth once known can never be hidden. The results of each generation and century, pass on into the future, and are interwoven into the woof of our ever-growing civilization.

The Greek and Roman energy, thought, and character, permeate the life and soul of modern Europe. The arts, the sciences, the literature, the civilization, of Greece and Rome we have to-day. They are out on the air; they are incorporated in our social and intellectual life; they are not afar off, they are here to-night—here in our streets, here in our homes and in our hearts. They are living, and speak with living tongues:—that part of them found in books alone may truly be called "dead."

In our opinion, a college founded to-day, should conform its curriculum to the growth of the world, in letters, and thought, and science, and civilization, and Christianity;—while the Greek and Latin languages should be studied only for specific ends.